


And I No Better

by keroseneinablender



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 23:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5983696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keroseneinablender/pseuds/keroseneinablender
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Yen'fay is dead, and I no better.</em>
</p>
<p>He’d meant those words. He was the one who had shown cowardice. Who had allowed his family to die. Or so he had thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And I No Better

Yen’fay wandered silently through the Shepards' camp, making his way to the training ground. He had vowed to take his place in this army, and he knew where he had to start. There was someone that he needed to meet, someone who, like him, hailed from the future.

In the future he had come from, the land across the sea had been torn by a much longer war. Because of that, aid from those realms had come much later than it did in this time. This had resulted in the Resistance being pushed back much further, even beyond the shores of Valm. This had tightened Walhart’s grip on continent as a whole, but at that time, it had seemed to have but a single benefit. Say’ri had escaped Excellus’ sights. Like the other leaders of the Resistance, she had fled across the great sea, a distance even the great spider’s web was not large enough to span.

He’d waited at first, fearing that one she might be found, or that she might one day return to Valm and continue her fight. But as the years passed, and she didn’t return, he’d started to foolishly think that maybe she was safe. And because of that foolishness, he’d dared to defy Walhart. He’d known for a long time, after all, that the Southern Dynasts only complied with Walhart’s rule because he enforced it. So when he moved against the Conqueror, the whole south of Valm when with him. Once more, there was Resistance against Walhart’s rule. He should have known.

She did not return alone, of course, she had travelled across the sea seeking allies. One of them must have had spies in Valm, who had relayed the information of Yen’fay’s betrayal of Walhart. She must have hurriedly rallied her allies at the news, urging that they travel across the sea to aid her brother. They had landed on one of Valm’s northern ports, before beginning to battle their way south to join their forces with his. Walhart’s forces had harried them, to the point they even lost one of their generals in battle against the Conqueror himself. But even against those odds, Say’ri herself had remained alive, despite the threats Excellus had once made.

His reunion with his sister was joyous. She had rushed forward to meet him, tearful and calling his name. Their combined forces allowed them time alone, to share their feelings and their tales of what had happened to them in the years they had been apart.

The nation Say’ri had fled to was called Ylisse. There she had met with it’s Prince, a man named Chrom, who was the commander of the forces she had brought with her, which was composed of soldiers from his own realm as well as the neighbouring nation of Regna Ferox. He had offered her refuge in Ylisse, which she had accepted. There, she’d met Chrom’s tactician, a man named Robin. Friendship had blossomed between them, and later romance. The couple even had a daughter, left behind in Ylisse to keep her safe. Say’ri talked excitedly of bringing her daughter to Chon’sin once the fighting was done; of showing the girl her maternal homeland. Is was then that tragedy struck.

He and Say’ri had wandered far from the camp, lost in their conversation. One moment he was looking at Say’ri’s smiling face as she talked about her daughter. The next, her face was wearing a look of concern as a searing pain appeared in his shoulder. He heard her call his name as he looked about to see that they were surrounded by archers. He had tried to raise his sword and engage them, but Say’ri had held him back. “You’re wounded,” she’d told him, as she raised her own sword. She had insisted on engaging them alone. She had fought like a bolt of lightening, slashing accurately at her foes even as their blood sprayed into her face and eyes. But even with her speed, occasionally one of their arrows would hit home. First one found its mark one of her legs, then one grazed her face, yet another became buried in her side. But no matter how many blows she took, somehow she found the strength to keep fighting. As all this when happening, Yen’fay could do nothing but watch. He knew he should go seek help, but the pain in his shoulder, and his concern for his sister, kept him frozen in place, watching helplessly as the archers slowly overwhelmed Say’ri. The final blow was one she could have never seen coming. Just as she finished cutting down yet another archer, and arrow struck the back of her neck, and pierced straight through. Her limbs immediately went limp, and her sword fell at her side. Yen’fay watched his sister fall to the ground in slow motion; the blood pouring from the wound in her neck seemed to hang in the air. Once she’d hit the ground he’d rushed to her side, but it was already too late. By the time he reached her, the light was already gone from her eyes.

He’d been clutching his sister’s body, weeping, when the spider appeared. He’d used his magics to appear directly in front of Yen’fay. He’d let out that cruel laugh of his as he smiled at Yen’fay. Hadn’t they had an understanding? Yen’fay would fight for Walhart, and he would allow Say’ri to live. And Yen’fay hadn’t kept his side of the bargain.

As Excellus sneered down at him, Yen’fay felt a blind rage coming over him. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he grabbed the first weapon that came to hand, and stabbed its blade into Excellus’ throat. Blood flowed down the blade as Excellus’ giggling became quiet gurgling. Then Yen’fay removed the blade in an arc, causing Excellus’ head to fall forward, enough to reveal the bloody stump but not completely detached, instead being barely held on by some skin and muscle. The now lifeless corpse slumped to the ground.

Yen’fay had then heard more voices in the trees, and had braced to defend himself and the body of his sister. But these voices were not foes. And when they saw what had happened they had hurried him away, insisting that he be treated for his wounds.

The following days were a blur. The wound on his shoulder healed completely, though he had worsened it by striking Excellus down. But the wound on his heart only grew worse. As they buried Say’ri, he battled the urge to leap in the grave with her. Life felt little worth living now that she was gone. But there was still a war to be won.

So he had pushed on, facing Walhart’s forces despite the fact that now, victory could bring him no peace. Eventually their forces pushed through to the Valmese capital, and into the Conqueror’s throne room. There, Yen’fay aided in overthrowing him, but even that victory rang hollow. Wandering through the Conqueror’s treasure room, he noticed Vert, the gemstone that his family had once guarded in Chon’sin. He gave to Chrom, after all, how could he be trusted to protect such a treasure, when he couldn’t even protect his own sister?

It was then that the man the Say’ri had loved, Robin, asked him want he planned to do now. He’d stated that he could no go back to Chon’sin, he had failed her far too grievously to ever consider himself welcome there again. That was when he had been offered a place in Ylisse. Where he could meet Say’ri’s daughter and perhaps watch her grow up. He’d refused, how could he look upon that child, knowing how he failed her mother?

It was then he broke ties with the rest of the company, and returned to the place where they had buried Say’ri. He took to defending that place, as if he could atone for his failure. Occasionally he would lend his blade to the local villagers in exchange for sustenance, but guarding that grave was his main calling. First against bandits and looters, and later against the dead themselves. Apparently the Fell Dragon had been awoken, and was raising the dead as his soldiers. This sparked little reaction in him, save a small fear that he might one have to face an enemy wearing his sister’s shape.

He had not wanted to leave that place, but the Voice had insisted. How better, she had insisted, to atone for failing his sister in the past, than by traveling to the past and correcting that mistake. Against his will, he had found himself pushed into another world.

He been travelling the Chon’sin of that world, when he saw her, that world’s Say’ri. Valm had already been freed from Walhart’s grip, and here she was alive. It seemed the Yen’fay of this world had died in her place. Even still, the land was not at peace, the Fell Dragon troubled this world as well, and its Say’ri was determined to fight for it. So he had pledged his blade to her, hoping he could at least by her the peace his sister could not experience.

Once in her company he learned he was not the only traveller from the future in their ranks. It seemed many had come in an attempt to change events already written. Including Say’ri’s daughter. The girl, upon learning who he was, had made a concerted effort to interact with him. And no matter how many times he reprimanded her, she would make another attempt. It was to the point he would deliberately walk in the other direction if he saw her approaching.

Which was what made his actions now so strange. He was going to the training ground, knowing that was where she would be. But he had vowed to take his place in this army, not because he himself had wished to, but because it was what she would have wanted. He also knew she would not want him ignoring what he already had for so long.

“Geetings, Morgan.”

She turned and looked at him in surprise, the shock of having him approach her writ clear upon her face.

“I was wondering if you would like to train together.”

The stock on her face was replaced with clear glee, as she enthusiastically agreed to his request.

As she rushed away to grab him a practice sword, Yen’fay let out a serene smile, one of the first had worn in a long time. The Say’ri in this world might not be his sister, but his journey here had at least allowed him the chance to know his niece.


End file.
